The Isle of Pain - 12th November 2020

It rained on and off all night and my hopes of pleasant walk out onto the Hoo Peninsular were looking somewhat damp but thankfully by dawn it had blown itself through and after checking that my, as yet unfinished new polycarbonate greenhouse was still where I left it I headed out onto the Isle of Grain to meet up in an appropriate manner with Carl for a marshland amble.

We managed to get parked towards the end of Decoy Lane and made our way down the Elm and Hawthorn lined trackway past Swigshole Farm and out onto the marsh. The sheep fields were full of cawing Rooks and parties of Skylark ‘chirrupped’ as they moved between pastures.

There were lots of old farm ponds to be found.

 The track widened and the Blackthorn and Hawthorn hedges had been absolutely mullered by a thrasher leaving enough room for two buses side by side.  There were sooty Blackbirds erupting from the tangles and Chaffinches and Goldfinches were in the weedy edges along with a orangey breasted Robins and a far brighter male Stonechat.

Stonechat

A Chiffchaff worked its way along the fenceline and Cetti’s Warblers explosively shouted from the reedy ditches while parties of Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit and Skylark fed on the bare areas on the main path.  

Chiffchaff

Reed Buntings

Remains of giant military WWII binoculars...

We veered left towards the river wall where Little Egrets and Little Grebes fed in and alongside one of the linear pools just below the levee. Poking our heads over the top to view Egypt Bay revealed that the tide was dropping but as yet there were no waders to be seen.  Rock and Meadow Pipits were out on the saltmarsh and 12 Golden Plover circled above us although it took an age to find them in the blue.

Egypt Bay

DP World - London Gateway

Egyptian Geese opposite Egypt Bay

 

It was a glorious morning to be out with sunshine and white clouds and brisk but not overly cool westerly breeze. Further east we came to St Mary’s Bay were Oystercatchers and a few Redshank were sitting out the last of the high water and a raft of Shelduck bobbed around off shore. 

Oystercatchers

The saltmarsh of St Mary's Bay

 

Suddenly the bay was full of a shimmering mass of Black-tailed Godwits that careened up river in a sinuous flock of pied wings and gleaming underparts. A few Curlew headed the same way and Carl was very pleased having not seen them since he were a lad up on the moors back home... (please insert your own attempt at a northern English accent at this point).

 

Black-tailed Godwits - but can you see the single Knot? Canvey Island's new blue seawall behind

The views across to the Essex shoreline were crystal clear and as usual I had fun landmarking my way along the coast from DP World and its container ships to Shoeburyness at the far mouth of the Thames.  As the tide swiftly dropped you could even see the Brents out from Leigh-on-Sea but had to be content with just two juveniles with the Shelduck flock on this side of the river.

Shelduck

Shelduck and Brent Geese

An early lunch was taken on a sandy beach where an appropriately placed couple of old jetty beams made ideal seats out of the wind. It was all very pleasant. On our early summer walks we had bemoaned that the pubs were unfortunately (but sensibly) closed and then we managed not have a walk while they were open so I made sure that that did not happen today and a small bottle of 12 year old Glenfiddich joined us for a lunchtime libation although my very gay plastic shot glasses may have spoilt the image somewhat.  Fortified by sandwiches, coffee, whisky and a fine apple muffin from Emma we pushed on along the river wall.  

 

This Juniper Shieldbug was a surprising visitor during lunch

A large flock of Curlews fed out on the meadows near to six derelict concrete buildings that I can only assume are of military origins and back on the receding waterline we added Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Ringed and Grey Plover to the wader list.  

One of three Ringed Plovers on the shore

The huge flat views and strong sunlight made for some great contrasting landscape shots wherever you looked.

APL Savannah

Leigh-on-Sea

Racing wash lines from the APL Savannah container ship

 

There were very few small birds other than a handful of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits and I had hoped for a Harrier or Peregrine but had to make do with a couple of Kestrels.

About half a mile from Allhallows-on-Sea we turned inland and started to climb up towards St Mary Hoo. A seed crop that included sunflowers held Linnets, Chaffinches and Goldfinches and I suspect it will come into its own as winter eventually gets a hold.  A flock of 46 noisy Fieldfares lined the adjacent hedge before chacking and wheezing off overhead with white underwings flashing.

Allhallows-on-Sea across the mudflats

Looking back down the path from the sea wall - it got grey for a short while

Fieldfares

Black-headed Gulls

 

Another turn at the old capped landfill where Biffa are extracting methane and the route back had begun.  It followed narrow rarely used tunnel footpaths for the most part and afforded superb views out across the marshes below and the Thames and Essex beyond and some of the houses in the hamlet have got views that actually take in the Medway to the south east as well.

Orchid rosette - not sure which one

Giraffe or Nessie for a shadow?

Alpaca

 

A flock of Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests foraged in a tint copse and a Great Spotted Woodpecker watched us from a Hawthorn near Moat Farm where I got distracted by a flowering Fatsia japonica just into their walled garden.  Every Ivy-like bloom was covered in Calliphora of various sizes along with a still golden hairy Pollenia, two Neomyia cornicina (yes I counted bristles again) and a male Syphus ribesii. There were lots of Common Wasps too.

Fatsia japonica

Syrphus sp ribesii I think

Pollenia sp

Common Wasp

 

The church was very quaint and I presume it is called St Mary’s as there was no signage at all and the sprawling property at the end of the lane was centred around the very fine Newlands Farm house which looked every bit the 18^th century property that it is.

St Mary's, Hoo

Ivy-leaved Toadflax

What a huge granite trough and quite an inscription!

I did some Googling and was intrigued to discover the history behind these troughs.  There seems to be a register of them too but I could not find the St Mary Hoo one on there so have submitted it to the Association.   

Anyway, some facts:

In 1859 the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association was established in London, England to provide free drinking water. The first fountain was erected in London in 1859 and became an immediate success and many subsequent fountains were placed opposite pubs or churchyards.

By 1867 there were over 800 drinking fountains in UK, and ornamental and memorial fountains were donated by private benefactors. The name was changed to include cattle troughs in support of animal welfare: The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association (M.D.F.C.T.A.). As horse traffic declined due to the invention of the motor car, troughs were no longer built, and with the concern over hygiene the metal cups were replaced with bubblers.

 

Newlands Farm - 1746

From here it was through some fairly sterile wheat fields with no birds bar the odd Wood Pigeon or Rook to be seen before the last path back down to Decoy Farm and the car.

These were the best views of the entire walk and you could see the Greylag flocks out on the fields to the west and a raft of Wigeon on the reservoir by Swigshole that we could not see on the walk down. Another container ship – the Santos Express was slowing down for DP World and the very last field was full of shiny, glossy Rooks all busily probing around for tasty morsels.

The Santos Express

 

The weather had been kind to us and there had been some fine wildlife encounters along the way and it had had been good to meet up again and put the world to rights but it felt like time for a proper cuppa so we bid our farewells and went our separate ways.